Kaspersky Bans All European Security Projects in Protest Over EU Ban

Internet security provider Kaspersky has halted all its operations with the EU government following the EU Parliament vote against Kaspersky on the grounds that it been confirmed as malicious. Kaspersky retaliated by pulling the plug on its existing coloration with the Europol which might be temporary.

Earlier, a motion tabled as part of the EU cyber security report called the members to comprehensively review all the equipment, infrastructure and IT software used by the EU member states in an attempt to stop an unprecedented threat of state-sponsored and politically motivated cyber attacks.

The result of the proposal was to ban any software products that have been confirmed as malicious. The report further mentioned the name of Kaspersky Lab without any mention of other companies. Ironically, Kaspersky has been working with the EU for over 20 years and protected it from many cyber threats. Kaspersky also mentioned that the accusations were all untrue and reflect lack of respect.

It is to be noted that the motion follows a similar decision in the United States which has banned all the products of Kaspersky within the use of government bodies and the US has also further guided the public bodies in the United Kingdom to be aware of the services provided by the security firm as it has feared that Kaspersky, having its roots in Russia, might be working for the Russian government.

The firm’s CEO Eugene Kaspersky said in a statement that they had no choice but to take a definitive action and stop all their services, at least temporarily, to all collaborative efforts with the EU cyber crime agencies including the Europol.

“We have protected the EU for 20 years working with law enforcement leading to multiple arrests of cybercriminals,” he said on Twitter. “Based upon today’s decision from the EU Parliament, we are forced to freeze our cooperation with orgs”, specifically highlighting the #NoMoreRansom initiative, which helps ransomware victims recover their data.

He also said that EU’s decision will encourage cybercrime across its member states and informed that their decision to halt the services will not change until EU withdraws its motion. He further added that it is really frustrating to know that the decision to ban Kaspersky was made without any investigation and without any evidence of wrongdoing from their side but based on false allegations and references from anonymous sources.

Last month, Kaspersky announced that it is relocating some of its core infrastructure that is based in Moscow and move to Switzerland to create a series of transparent centres and as a gesture of the company’s willingness to work with governments and further reiterate its long-claimed independence from the Russian authorities.